{"id":3056,"date":"2017-12-23T13:17:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-23T13:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foxymonkey.com\/?p=3056"},"modified":"2021-11-08T11:05:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T11:05:48","slug":"buy-ethereum-uk-no-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foxymonkey.com\/buy-ethereum-uk-no-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Buy Ethereum without fees in the UK, US and Europe [2021 Updated]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you follow this life-hacking blog you probably know that I hate paying high premiums. The market frenzy around cryptocurrencies has led exchanges to charge very high fees and rip off customers. Time to change all that!<\/p>\n

Technically, you can follow this guide to buy Ethereum, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin without paying any fees whatsoever.\u00a0What you see is what you get.<\/p>\n

Be careful though. I only treat it\u00a0as a small gamble and I’m prepared to lose everything. This is not investment advice and you should do your own research before buying any cryptocurrencies. They are speculative investments and are very risky! I’ve written my\u00a0thoughts on crypto<\/a> here.<\/p>\n

Let’s now see how we can buy Ethereum as an example.<\/p>\n

The simplest option is to follow what everyone else is doing. Sign up for Coinbase<\/a>, top up the account using your debit card and hit the Buy button. If you sign up using this link<\/a> we both get $10 worth of free bitcoins. I won’t blame you since this is the most hassle-free choice<\/strong> but it will cost you 4% in fees. If you’re buying a small amount of crypto maybe that’s ok, but for large amounts, percentage fees hurt!<\/p>\n

For those of us who want the more advanced<\/strong> but cheapest <\/b>option to buy Ethereum and other crypto, read below.<\/p>\n

Cheapest way to buy Ethereum in the UK<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Sign up for Coinbase<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. (UK only) Transfer funds to Revolut<\/li>\n
  3. Make a bank transfer to Coinbase<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Move the money from Coinbase to Coinbase Pro<\/li>\n
  5. Buy Ethereum using a limit order for a 0.50% fee<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Step 1: Sign up for Coinbase<\/h3>\n

    The only reason we need to sign up for\u00a0Coinbase<\/a> is to use their Coinbase Pro exchange. This is the interface advanced users use to buy and sell Ethereum, Bitcoin and Litecoin every day. In other words, they trade<\/em> on Coinbase Pro.<\/p>\n

    Why Coinbase? They’re one of the biggest well-known exchanges and they’ve been around for many years. It’s also a public company listed in the US stock exchange.<\/p>\n

    Coinbase Pro and Coinbase<\/a> are the same company and you can transfer money between those two instantly and for free. After you sign up for Coinbase, they’ll ask you for a proof of ID. The verification\u00a0took a day for me to complete.<\/p>\n

    [UK only] Step 2: Transfer funds to Revolut<\/h3>\n

    In the UK, banks may block transfers to crypto exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance.<\/p>\n

    I use Revolut to transfer funds to Coinbase.<\/p>\n

    Your bank -> Revolut -> Coinbase.<\/p>\n

    Revolut<\/a> is a free mobile app \/ bank but built for the 20th century. You can open one instantly online which also gives you the option to exchange from GBP -> EUR at market rates. Plus, they will give you a EUR IBAN so you can deposit money to Coinbase as if you’re a EUR account holder if you want.<\/p>\n

    I initially thought that perhaps you can also use Transferwise<\/a> to deposit EUR at Coinbase. However, many Reddit users warned me that Transferwise doesn’t allow deposits to crypto exchanges. It’s a shame because Transferwise is awesome. I really like the work they’re doing. That’s what I used for my NY trip earlier in 2017.<\/p>\n

    Step 3: Make a bank transfer to Coinbase<\/h3>\n

    Time to finally load up Coinbase.<\/p>\n

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